fixit disc for 7.3 #1?

[Da Rock]

On 02/15/12 12:01, Gary Kline wrote:
> On 02/14/2012 05:40 PM, Da Rock wrote:
>> On 02/15/12 10:08, Gary Kline wrote:
>>> guys,
>>>
>>> is there still a  way of fixing something i did to my existing
>>> installation?  it does nothing but continually cycle e and try to
>>> reboot into the old release i had from feb 2011.  i thought editing
>>> out /etc/fstab would do it.  but nope, it throws me into the lowest
>>> level manual config and then hangs.  i cannot even install release 9.0
>>> which is the only other path.  either some stable distro of debian,
>>> or getting past release8 and going to   9.
>>>
>>> first, tho, i need to get rid of this [[messed up]] 7.3.
>>>
>>> let me share a story from when i was visiting a favorite cousin who
>>> put up about half of NASA's huge antennas.  long retired, he lives
>>> out where not even god could find him.  he wanted to see proof of my
>>> beloved freebsd.  so, using a new set of discs that i bought, i
>>> started the installation.  { FWIW, --this was in july, 2000.  }  I
>>> happened to mention that freebsd had trouble configuring the
>>> printers.  or that   that could get hairy.  he stopped what he was
>>> doing and asked me to get back to his windows toys and games.  i had
>>> a floppy w ith the mystery file "MBR" that removed that single file.
>>>
>>> my hunch is that since i never mess with anything but freebsd, i
>>> left it configure itself by default and that the same thing that
>>> stalled me for ten minutes back in 2000, might be what's stopping
>>> me from installing anything over my 7.3 in 2012.
>>>
>>> any wizards how how to fix  this?
>> Are you sure you can't backup your important files and start again? 
>> You might have a good deal of trouble jumping by 2 major releases at 
>> the best of times.
>>
>> Also, 9.0 is significantly different in many ways to 7.x in dir 
>> structure _and_ filesystems, to just mention a few. I new (clean) 
>> install would be _highly_ recommended ;)
>> _______________________________________________
>
> i have a working copy on 7.3 #4 on my Server.  the server in a 2009 
> dell;  the one that is busted and that i want to upgrade ---to either 
> debian-6-iso or freebsd9-iso is my old 2003 dell.  two different 
> computers.  the thing with the old dell is that nothing can boot off 
> it.  it keep cycling, trying to boot a 7.3 #1.
>
> i just remembered that the floppy disk   was a DOS file  with a secret 
> command :A:\MBR that got rid of that boot track.
>
> it's looking more and more hopeless.
>
> ....
>
> wasn't/isn't there some kind of "fixit" CD?
You can't take the disks out to copy data off them? Or use 7.0 live to 
copy across to the working dell?

If you cant do that, then use the live disk to run fdisk and restore the 
mbr. "man fdisk"

If you have already tried installing 9 though, you may have some 
"unexpected behaviour" - kinda like what you're seeing now I'll bet.